NYFW: Elie Tahari Celebrates 40 Years in Fashion

What does it feel like to spend 40 years in the fashion industry? For Elie Tahari, who celebrated his ruby anniversary this year, "It's like I just started," he said. "I don't feel like 40 yet." At his spring 2014 presentation last night, he certainly had the buoyancy of a fresh-faced school boy, glowing amid a tightly packed crowd at the Fifth Avenue location.

Most Popular

Meant to invoke the "futuristic city," the room was set up with inverted white scopes with models arranged on circular pedestals, flirting with the crowd or bopping resolutely to the pulsing music.

On one side of the room, where the disco was in full swing, a capsule collection was on display to represent Tahari's iconic looks. They dated back to 1974, the year he opened his first boutique on Madison Avenue. The sleek silhouettes were predominately white and black in expertly layered textures. On the other side of the room, his spring 2014 collection was on full view. Here, the designer incorporated pops of color, iridescent snakeskin prints, and relaxed fits. In the back room, Tahari's menswear collection could be seen on two rows of male models, who looked rugged yet perfectly coiffed in Tahari's famously well-tailored suits and shiny (sock-less) loafers.

"I think clothes got more relaxed and more comfortable," Tahari said of the evolution in fashion over the past four decades. And where does he hope to see it go? "Wherever it goes, [I hope] it goes with good wishing and good blessings." His business partner, Arthur S. Levine, who had posed next to the designer for a photo op, added, "It takes us where it goes."

With Mayor Michael Bloomberg proclaiming September 4th as Elie Tahari Day, it seems the fashion community will have an annual occasion to celebrate the designer's positivity and commitment to beautiful design. Plus, for the first time ever, six pieces from the Elie Tahari Edition 1974 collection will be available for pre-sale from September 12–22.